Hazelwood to lead Webb development team By Sara Withrow
Director of Marketing and Communications
Coming to The Webb School is like coming home for Claudia M. Hazelwood, the school’s new director of alumni and development. A graduate of a K-12 private school located in New Orleans, and a former schoolteacher at University School Nashville (USN), Hazelwood is familiar with independent education. As the mother of Webb graduate, Whitney Hazelwood Brough (Class of 1999), she has a history with the school as well. And, the Bell Buckle campus is much closer geographically to Hazelwood’s restored Normandy, Tenn. farm home than her employer for the past 26 years, Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
The Webb School Magazine
Claudia and David Hazelwood are pictured above with their dog, Lane.
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“People have been asking me what I’m going to do with the extra two hours I’ll have on my hands,” she said, referring to the shorter commute. “I’ve decided I’m going to have chickens again.” Hazelwood and her husband, David, came to enjoy chickens when their daughter, Whitney, was young and still living at home. “We got them for Whitney so she could have an egg business,” she explained. “David thought it would be good for her and would teach her business sense … the chickens were fascinating to watch.” Apparently the plan worked. Whitney no longer has chickens, but is a practicing speech therapist in Asheville, N.C. where she lives with her husband, Jock Brough, and their new daughter, Addison, 6 months. Following her Webb education, Whitney earned a degree in psychology from Vanderbilt Uni-
versity and a master’s degree in communication disorders from Appalachian State University. “We’re very proud of the fact that she utilizes her education to enrich her life and the lives of others,” Hazelwood said. It was Whitney’s connection to The Webb School that influenced her mother’s recent decision to leave her longtime career in development at Vanderbilt University. “She (Whitney) holds Webb as a very important experience in her life and we hold it the same way. Her positive experience is a key reason why I’m headed there now,” Hazelwood said shortly after accepting the Webb position. According to Head of School Raymond Broadhead, Webb is fortunate to have Hazelwood leading its alumni and development team. “Through her time at Vanderbilt Claudia brings to The Webb School a wealth of experience and a high degree of professionalism,” he said. “In addition, she has a strong knowledge of Webb through her involvement as a parent (of Whitney) … She will be a tremendous asset to our school.”
Getting to know Claudia Favorite book: “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time,” by Mark Haddon On her love of history: “Dinnertime was always a sacred time in our family. It was where we heard stories from my father about the war and about our family. We had a set of Compton Encyclopedias and if a topic came up that he wanted to expand upon, he’d go get one off the shelf. It gave me a good sense of and an interest in what came before.”
Hazelwood began her career as a teacher and tennis coach at Peabody Demonstration School, a K-12 school associated with the Peabody College of Education (now under the Vanderbilt umbrella). The demonstration school was privatized one year after Hazelwood began working there and became the University School of Nashville (USN). She taught American and British Literature, creative writing and European History at USN for six and a-half years before leaving to give birth to and raise Whitney. Returning to the workforce in 1984, Hazelwood took an administrative position at her alma mater (Vanderbilt). Over the next 26 years she worked in positions of increasing importance for the university’s alumni relations and development offices. During this time she participated in two capital campaigns including the current $1.75 billion Shape the Future Campaign (2004-10) and a Parent’s Campaign that raised $12.4 million in gifts for 2009. Hazelwood hopes to utilize this experience in her role as Webb’s director of alumni and development. “I look forward to partnering with incoming Head of School Ray Broadhead, faculty and staff, the Board of Trustees and our alumni and parents to continue Webb’s progress and make the next leap forward,” she said. Hazelwood holds a master’s degree in teaching and a bachelor’s degree in history from Vanderbilt and a teaching certificate from Peabody College of Education. She and her husband, David, own and operate the Parish Patch Farm & Inn, Cortner Mill Restaurant and Whitney Chapel in Normandy, Tenn. David is the general manager and also has his own consulting business (providing strategic planning for nonprofits, independent schools and churches). Hazelwood can be contacted via email at chazelwood@webbschool.com.